Valve-chest



L. H. DUNCAN.

VALVE CHEST. APPLICATION FILED OCT-1.1919.

Patented May 18, 1920.

I 2 SHEET$SHEET 1- WITNESSES L. H. DUNCAN.

VALVE CHEST.

APPLlCATION FILED OCT. 1'. 1919.

Patented May1 8,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FIB-El.

. a m F LEVI H. DUNCAN, or BEN AVON, PENNSYLVANIA.

VALVE-CHEST.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1920.

Application filed October 1, 1919. Serial No. 327,719.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEVI H. DUNCAN, residing at Ben Avon, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Valve-Chests, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the construction of valve chests. Though not so limited, it finds application in the construction of regulator valves for the supply of gas (natural or artificial) for domestic purposes; and I shall in the ensuing specification describe it in such application. The objects of invention are accessibility of parts, for purposes of cleaning, repair and the like, and adaptability, that parts which are worn or otherwise defective may be replaced easily and at small expense.

In the accompanying drawings a gas regulator is shown, which in its construction.

embodies my invention. Figure I is a view of the regulator, partly in plan, partly in horizontal section (the diaphragm chamber being, for illustrative purposes, removed); Fig. II shows the same structure, partly in side elevation, partly in vertical section (the hand-hole covers being removed) Fig. III shows it in end elevation; Fig. IV is a view in perspective of the strainer the invention of which is subsidiary to the main invention.

The valve chest here shown consists essentially of a single casting 1, the space within is divided by a partition wall 2 into inlet and outlet chambers. (The direction of flow is indicated by the arrow at.) Attention is directed particularly to the valve seat: It is formed in a horizontally extending portion of the partition wall between inlet and outlet chambers; and, the valve being in this instance a two-part, balanced valve, the inlet chamber is projected, so to speak, into the outlet chamber, and so double oppositely disposed horizontally extending portions of the partition wall are provided in which ports are formed for the balanced valve.

In the drawings, the partition wall 2, di-

- viding inlet and outlet chambers is continued in an extension 3, which is open to the inlet chamber, which projects into the outlet chamber, and which affords the necessary opposite walls for the ports controlled by a balanced valve 4:.

The flow of gas through the structure is not in direct line; a sinuosity is formed, and consequent upon this sinuosity structural features become possible in which my invention resides. A bay 5 is formed in casting 1 and in this bay the infiowing stream is turned aside. The partition wall 2 and extension 3 are so disposed and the bay already mentioned so related to them that the stream of gas, entering extension 3, is traveling in a direction which is angular (in this case directly transverse) to the general line of flow. WVithin this extension the stream of gas is divided and turned, and it passes from the extension in two vertical streams, upward and downward, through the ports controlled by the balanced valve into the outlet chamber. The end of the extension remote from the inlet is blank and extends opposite a blank portion of the wall of casting 1.

It follows from this turning of the stream, and particularly the angular position of extension 3 relatively to the general line of flow, that a hand hole may be formed in the blank wall of casing 1, opposite extension 3 (a hand hole closed by cap 6) extension 3 may be made a separate part of the structure, capable of being bolted to place through the hand hole and capable too of being applied and removed through the hand hole, without removing casting 1 and without disturbing the connections which are completed through casting 1. The blank end of extension 3 also may be provided with a hand hole (closed by cap 7). Thus it will be seen that the valve itself is readily accessible for cleaning and repair and such like purposes, and, further, that the portion of the valve chest which is subject to wear may be removed, repaired and replaced, and this without disturbing the connections of the casting 1 inthe supply line. Such a disturbing of connections is a troublesome matter, and my invention,

avoiding the necessity of such disturbance,

conveniently arranged wholly within extension 3. A post 8 is set vertically in the middle of the conduit at the inlet end of extension 3, and the two parts 9 of the strainer, introduced through the hand hole in the end of extension 3 are secured in place by being hooked over post 8 at one end and secured by screws 10 or other means at the other end. It will be understood that such a screen is applicable and removable through the hand holes, without disturbance of other parts of the valve chest and its contents.

The invention has to do with the construction of the valve chest, and nothing else. Hence, though I show it applied in the valve chest of a gas regulator, I refrain from description of the other parts of the regulator. The invention is now fully described, and, so far as concerns the regulator, the drawings are plain to those acquainted with such apparatus.

I have in describing the invention, confined attention to the specific showing of the drawings; it is manifest to one acquainted with this art that enjoyment of the inven tion is not conditioned on the use of a balanced valve; it may be enjoyed by adaptation to any valve chest. It is further manitest that enjoyment of the invention is not conditioned on the projection of inlet into outlet chamber; it would be enjoyed just the same, if the direction of flow through the structure were reversed. Finally, it is plain that enjoyment of the invention is not limited to pressure regulators in gas pipes, nor even to pneumatic apparatus, but is applicable generally to valve structures controlling the flow of fluids in conduits.

I claim as my invention:

1. In apparatus for controlling the flow of fluids in conduits the combination, with a conduit, of a valve chest interrupting the continuity of the conduit, said valve chest being provided internally with a partition wall dividing the chest into inlet and outlet chambers, an extension removably carried by said partition, in which extension the controlling valve is formed and carried, said extension being applicable to and removable from said partition in a direction transverse to the line of flow through the conduit, and a hand hole formed in the outer wall 01. the valve chest opposite said extension whereby access may be had through'the hand hole and the extension applied and removed, without disturbance of the valve chest in its assembly between adjacent conduit sections, substantially as described.

'2. In apparatus for controlling the flow of fluids in conduits the combination, with a conduit, of a valve chest interrupting the continuity of the conduit, said valve chest being provided with a partition wall ar ranged to one side of the center line of flow and dividing the space within into inlet and outlet chambers, a bay formed in the wall of the valve chest on one side of the partition and a hand hole formed in the opposite wall, an extension removably carried in said partition wall and effecting a protrusion of one of said chambers into the other, said extension being applicable to and removable from said partition wall in a direction transverse to the general'line of flow through the conduit, such extension being alined with said hand hole, and a valve movable in seats in said extension in a direction transverse to the line of flow and transverse also to the direction of application and removal of said extension, substantially as described. 3. In apparatus for controlling the flow of fluids in conduits, the combination, with a conduit, of a valve chest interrupting the continuity of the conduit, said valve chest being provided internally with a partition wall dividing the space within into inlet and outlet chambers, an extension removably carried by the partition wall and forming a protrusion of one of said chambers within the other, a valve in said extension, and alined hand'holes in valve chest and extension, through which access may be had to the valve in the extension without disturbance of said valve chest from its connections between adjacent conduit sections, substantially as described. a. In a valve chest inlet and outlet chambers, an extension of chamber wall constituting a. projection of one chamber within the other, a hand hole in said extension, and a strainer secured in said extension and removable through said hand hole, substantially as described.

5. In a valve chest inlet and outlet chambers, an' extension of chamber wall consti and attlie otherend'secured to the wall of the extension, substantially as'described.

y In testimony whereof I havehereunto set my hand.

LEVI IIDUNCAN,

. 'lVitnesses:

BAYARD II. CHRISTEE, FnANoIsJ. TOMASSON 

